William Rusher has a good article out at Townhall.com and printed in today's
Waynesboro News Virginian titled,
"Republican Party, conservative movement," in which he discusses the background of the conservative movement and where it is today. He writes:
The two political parties have, at one time or another, encouraged many of these movements to seek fulfillment in supporting them. (Before the Civil War, for example, the Democratic Party was, in addition to much else, the political instrument of the slaveholding interests.) From their start -- but, above all, from the launching of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal onward -- the leftist movements (to the extent that they have not founded parties of their own) have tended to support the Democratic Party. And from its inception the conservative movement has found its home with the Republicans.
He concludes by saying the conservatives and Republicans are not separating.
At the moment, however, the Republican Party and the conservative movement still seem comfortably wedded. The marriage began in 1964, with the party's nomination of Barry Goldwater for president, and has lasted ever since. Many analysts assumed that the relatively liberal wing of the GOP would revive after Goldwater's crushing defeat and resume control of the party. But this never happened: Nixon's nomination in 1968 resulted from a decision by the conservative movement (albeit a bad one), and Reagan's election and reelection simply nailed down the alliance. Today, practically all Republican candidates proclaim their conservatism, and almost all conservative leaders vow their allegiance to the Republican Party. It has been a remarkably fruitful union.
4 comments:
And therefor, what? All is well nationally and across Virginia?
This is missing something important. Like a discussion of where do Republicans and Conservatives go from here.
Jim, I think what it is saying is that many conservatives (most?) are willing to roll up their sleeves, dig in their heels, and continue to work for the conservative cause. That is opposite of what the mainstream media would have us believe -- they are painting a party that will sit out the November election.
Rush said it well two weeks ago when he discussed Goldwater and the fact that, after his defeat in the national election, his conservative supporters did not give up but kept on working which led to small victories that built on one another and eventually led to the election of Ronald Reagan.
Meanwhile, he said, the moderates who lost when Goldwater became the GOP nominee sat on their hands and did nothing ... and their moderate/liberal side of the party fell behind.
Even though we don't have a conservative candidate at the national level, we need to continue to work at the local level. Am I off-base? I value your opinion. ~Lynn
I agree with your way forward. I just didn't see that in the article.
In Virginia we still have the struggle between Establishment Republicans who run as Conservatives and govern otherwise vs. Republican Conservatives who understand the principles and actually see them in policy issues.
I totally agree. It is what we fought here in the SWAC area last spring; it is what we are fighting still in local government with established politicians who try to squash newcomers and will not endorse local Republican candidates even as the LG, AG, and delegates are endorsing in the spirit of unity for the Party.
Meanwhile, those of us who believe in the Reagan form of government continue to work hard to support like-minded candidates and recruit others to run.
We also continue to fight for the community in the form of zoning ordinances to prohibit adult businesses from locating near family-oriented locations, Marriage Amendment, and Weekday Religious Education as well as holding open forums on media bias, taxes, etc, and troop rallies.
If they beat us out of office, we will continue to work because we have our children who will inherit the world we leave behind.
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